


Love stands a chance

by Whavey



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Happy Ending, Henry is bae, I love me some Robin as dad, LoveFromOQ2019, Marriage, Romance, Subway parody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 02:11:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17778599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whavey/pseuds/Whavey
Summary: The story in which Regina meets Robin, falls in love and does everything she told herself she wouldn't do in love.Written for the "Love from OQ 2019" valentines day gifts for the amazing @blt_tana on twitter





	Love stands a chance

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Tana!
> 
> Surprise! I am your secret admirer! I hope you like this, as I made this piece with what I could find about you and what you send me. Enjoy!
> 
> Love your OQ admirer,
> 
> Thirza/Whaveyx

Regina often didn’t know she was in deep until she went too far. It happened once before when she got into a rushed engagement to her beau Daniel, only to find out days before the wedding he was suffering from a failing heart, causing him to die mere hours before they were to tie the knot. She had told herself that was the last time she would rush into anything at all. 

Her mother had told her it was common for people to react like she did. Her mother also told her she would heal. The relationship with her mother was strained and Regina knew her mother meant well, but it was not what she needed at that point in life. She needed stability and she would create it for herself.

And so she went back to school to finish her masters in business as she had always dreamed of a little business of her own. In her internships she quickly found she wanted to go into the food industry and in her end internship she got to work as an assistant manager at a local sandwich shop called GrannyWay, where they made incredible sandwiches. Granny, the owner, was usually a stern woman but soon discovered she had a weak point for the hard working assistant manager who insisted doing it all by the books. Though in all truth, Granny did not mind someone so deep in the books. She could fire a high school student for stealing money and David, their local farmer, got an increase in business now that they had the money to order locally grown products. Granny offered her a job after she finished university an she accepted.

As the months went by, Granny decided to open up a second shop and immediately promoted Regina to the manager of that store. David’s wife, Mary Margaret, had applied to come work and together with Granny’s granddaughter Ruby and a few other students from the local university completed the team they opened with. The college students quickly discovered the fairly affordable sandwich shop and often stopped by to work and eat. Regina let one of Granny’s friends, Leroy, install a WiFi network in the shop and that attracted more and more students. Ruby and Mary started working more and more and this continued for nearly a year before Granny relocated them to a larger store, few blocks closer to the university. 

There it was one day, a handsome man walked in with his son. Regina stood at the counter for it was rushhour. “Welcome to GrannyWay sandwiches, what can I get you?” Regina politely asked and the man turns to his son, who whispers something to his father. “Roland here would like a kids Grannywich and you can give me EvilBLT.” The man asked and she nodded as she started punching it into the machine. “Anything else?” She asked and he shook his head as she prepared payment. She handed him the sandwiches and watched him walk away before turning to the next customer.

Over the months he came more often. Sometimes with his son, but usually alone. From the conversations surrounding him, she gathered he taught literature at StoryBrooke University. He was popular, as many of her visitors knew him and he often discussed books with his students. He at one point during a calm afternoon even discussed the influence of Faulkner in literature with Regina. She liked him and he tipped well. 

One day she asked him about his wife, as he ordered three sandwiches on his way home. “Oh, she passed away while birthing Roland.” He calmly told her, emotion evident. “This third sandwich is for Roland’s babysitter. He likes the sandwiches a lot.” He had told her and afterward Mary Margaret and Ruby had been busy convincing Regina to claim him as hers. Regina had turned them down, remembering how Daniel had ended.

It was eventually her godson and his mother that had convinced her. It was a few weeks later and Regina had decided to stop by the girl she had convinced to keep baby Henry years ago and as thanks had made her a godmother. She had grown to love them as a sister and nephew and liked spending time with them. When she told Henry she might like a guy, he had been jumping at the news that now she was finally going to be happy. Emma, his birthmother, had remarried at this point to a handsome man named Killian. In his young years, Henry had seen his mother grow happy and connected the dots himself. Now he was doing it for her. His first questions were ‘when am I going to meet him?’, ‘Is he nice?’ and ‘When are you going to walk in white?’. She realised that while young, Henry had a point that she deserved to find happiness. 

So the next time he walked in, she scribbled her phone number on the receipt as she handed him both the receipt and his order. She forgot about it for a while until she checked her phone as she walked to the backoffice to start working on the numbers. A new number had texted her a casual “Hey Regina, it is me, Robin.” And she swore her heart skipped a few beats as she typed a quick reply back. 

And so the texting continued for a weeks before he had shown up at work while she was there. As he ordered, he winked and she blushed. “So, I was wondering…” He started and she perked up as he continued. “How about dinner?” He asks and she nods. “Sounds good.” She said and as he left, he turned to look at her. 

And so a few weeks later he took her to a fancy Italian place. She dressed in a blue cocktail dress while he was in a black tux. As dinner progressed, she realised she was falling in love, and possibly even quicker than she did with Daniel. It scared her. So she finished eating, let Robin walk her home and did not text him.

The following weeks she managed to avoid him due to bookkeeping. Mary Margaret and Ruby had noticed and bugged her about it, but she had shut them down. It was not until she was locking up for the day that she saw Robin again. He was with a son and a blonde that she did not know and she lowered her eyes as she locked the last lock and turned to walk to her car. She stopped as she heard him call her and as she turned, she saw him hand over Roland and run her way. “You have a girl to get back to.” She bit, not sure what to do with the situation at hand. Robin seemed off as he turned to the woman holding Roland. “Tink? She is a colleague.” He said in confusion and looked at Regina. “Are you jealous?” He then asked and she shook her head. “No.” She stated and turned back to her car. “Then why did you ignore me and avoid me? I came by often, Mary and Ruby know.” He said calmly and she turned back again. “Reasons.” She stated, feeling her lose her cool. “Tell me.” He pleaded and she bit her lip. “I fell in love once, it killed the man I loved.” She said, tears filled her eyes and she got in her car and drove away.

Later that night, her doors were kicked in by Ruby and Mary Margaret. As they bribed her into talking with wine, she told them about her fears. The looks of pity killed her and she kicked them out. Two days later, Robin was at her doorstep to talk.

And talking they did. They continued until it was past 10 in the evening and Robin had left with a promise of Regina texting him. She did, not even 5 minutes after he had left. 

And they had continued to text, before he had asked her on another date. This time it was a more special date, not as generic as a dinner. He had taken her to the woods where one of his friends by the name of Mulan had a tree house business where she not just rented out the three houses, but also gave tree climbing courses. Regina and Robin competed on who was the quickest (spoiler, Robin won) and then ate in one of the tree houses. Regina spoke of her love for her godson, Robin about the odd things his own son did. Afterwards he brought her home and gallantly kissed her on the cheek as she bid him farewell. She did remember a time where she had loved anyone more intense than she loved Robin in that moment.

Three weeks later he had asked her to be his girlfriend. She said yes without even overthinking it once. She knew he was something else and she wanted to explore that more. He took her on exciting dates and made her feel special on a daily base. Cora and Henry Sr were positively charmed by him and every time Roland came over, the two would take him on a tour around their estate. Roland learned to ride horse back and if Henry the godson came over, the two would play until they were too tired to even move. It was endearing and they loved watching the guys together. Regina became more of a mother figure for Roland and Roland became the son she never thought she would have. Where Henry loved her dearly, he did not ask her to cuddle at night before bed or wanted her to come to his school on a parent-teacher conference night. Roland adored Regina, and she adored him. 

One of the many things the two bonded over was their love for movies. Regina was smitten with “Labyrinth” and Robin often walked into his living room after tucking Roland in and she would have readied the movie for them to watch. They also often watched movies like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter as they both had their (god)sons grow up with it and they liked the movies themselves a lot too. This movie obsession was one of the few things they had fights over, as they always wanted different movies. Regina usually won, though Robin would never admit that he liked chick flicks as much as Regina did.

When Robin finally started talking about her moving in, she had already been planning for weeks to end her lease and move to his place. It was a year-and-a-half into their relationship and Robin had been excited to see her so happy about moving in. Three weeks into living together he knew he wanted to spend his life with her.

And so on her birthday in February, he proposed. She said yes without even thinking and they decided on keeping it secret till valentines day. When they broke the news to their friends and family, everyone cheered.

And so we find ourselves on their wedding day, late autumn in an apple orchard. As Regina makes her way down the aisles, many find themselves tearing up at the look of pure love she shoots at Robin. Her wedding dress is a simple sleeveless one with a sweetheart neckline. Opting out of a veil, she had a sort of carefully crafter hairpiece with flowers and a fake Robin bird. Robin, Roland and Henry jr were in neat black tuxes and all had a beautiful lily pinned on. As she pledges her life to Robin, and Robin pledges his life to her, Cora finds a few tears slipping from her eyes. The married couple then kisses and the crowd cheers as Granny smiles at the girl who she had come to see as her own granddaughter. 

Regina had learned only one lesson that would stick with her forever and she would always tell all the children, and later grandchildren, if they were upset about something in love: true love stands a chance and cannot be stopped, not even when you give it your all to stop it!


End file.
